Ryan Villopoto says that starts were the key on his way to picking up a cool $1-million at last weekend’s Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas.

While Villopoto had already completed a dream season with championships earned in supercross, motocross and at the Motocross of Nations, he decided to go for one more win at the Monster Energy Cup.

With his competition keeping him honest, Villopoto knew that the start would be crucial to breaking away from the pack. He led all 30 laps of the main event races, which earned him the top prize of $1-million.

“The start was the key to the race tonight and I had an amazing bike underneath me to get me to out front early in every race,” said Villopoto.

Villopoto explained that he did a lot of testing in the lead-up to the event to get the 2012 Kawasaki KX450F set for supercross after debuting it in the outdoors earlier this year.

“We did a lot of testing on the 2012 KX450F and it really showed tonight,” he added. “The track was a bit different than a typical supercross, but there were enough big jumps to need supercross testing before coming out to the event.

“I had to miss our dealer meeting because of training and testing and I’m really happy all the work paid off so I could win this one for all the people that have stuck by me at Kawasaki.”